Posted on 10/06/2004 2:27:43 PM PDT by JesseHousman
The U.S. used up its supply of 65,000 temporary visas for skilled foreign workers in a single day. Advocates for raising the quota said that bolstered their case.
South Florida businesses that rely on talented foreign workers to fill technical positions are out of luck until next October -- unless they have an applicant already in the pipeline.
Federal officials closed the 2005 application window for highly coveted foreign professional visas just hours after it opened.
The unprecedented rush for temporary visas for those skilled foreign workers demonstrates U.S. companies' pent-up demand for candidates in such technical fields as engineering, mathematics and research. And, South Florida experts say, it increases the likelihood that companies will outsource jobs overseas.
''It means, unfortunately, that employers here will have less options in terms of hiring,'' Deborah Vazquez, chief executive of the Miami-Dade and Broward County recruiting firm Protech, told The Herald. ``We will have fewer candidates, [less] talent in a situation in which demand very much outstrips supply.''
The quota of 65,000 ''H-1B'' visas was filled Friday, the first day of the 2005 fiscal year, meaning that U.S. companies must wait until October 2005 to hire more foreign workers under the visas.
Until two years ago, the government issued 195,000 of the visas annually. The allotment was slashed because of increased restrictions on immigration following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Job losses in the computer and high-tech sectors have made legislators reluctant to reinstate the bigger quota, even though U.S. companies have argued that most of the jobs filled are outside those sectors.
''It was a real wake-up call when these numbers were issued,'' said Sandra Boyd, who chairs Compete America, a corporate coalition pushing for more H-1B visas. ``I don't think anyone believes it's acceptable that a whole year can now go by without any access to these people.''
The H-1B visas have been popular with U.S. companies, which maintain that they cannot find enough American workers with advanced scientific and engineering degrees to fill critical jobs. Last year, the 65,000-worker cap was hit in February 2004, about five months into the fiscal year.
Tammy Fox-Isicoff, a Miami immigration attorney who helps foreign professionals get H-1Bs, said lawmakers must raise the visa cap again or ''carve out exceptions'' for disaster areas like Florida after the hurricanes or for professions with employee shortages such as teachers or healthcare professionals.
''This situation is terrible that when the doors open to H-1Bs, it swings shut on the same day,'' Fox-Isicoff said in an interview with The Herald. ``It's not good for American business.''
Companies were allowed to submit applications against this year's quota in April.
Theodore Ruthizer, who heads the business immigration practice at Kramer Levin, a New York law firm, predicted that the scarcity of slots will worsen unless Congress expands the program.
''It just proves the numbers are inadequate,'' he told The Financial Times.
U.S. companies have been urging Congress to adopt an interim measure by exempting from the quota any foreign national holding an advanced degree from a U.S. school. That would add about 20,000 positions a year.
About two-thirds of students taking advanced mathematics and engineering degrees at U.S. schools are foreign born. U.S. companies say they will be at a disadvantage should those students go to work for overseas competitors.
And immigrant-rich South Florida has a large share of that talent.
''We have so many universities here with foreign students who come and graduate and look for jobs in the area,'' Andrew Koerner, a partner with the Leaf Koerner law firm in Miami, told The Herald. ``It's just sad to see these small-business owners suddenly stopped from being able to grow their businesses.''
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2004 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.miami.com
Whether or not South Florida is "immigrant-rich" is in the eye of the liberal beholder.
Just scanning daily crime reports show that many immigrants and illegals contribute to the massive South Florida crime rate.
Should this say...
U.S. companies' pent-up demand for candidates in such technical fields as engineering, mathematics, research and landscaping.
Isn't this like reverse outsourcing or something? Giving away good jobs to foreigners, just that it occurs within our borders?
This is ridiculous. The administration should immediately lift this stupid quota. We need to draw the best and brightest here to remain competive economically. What a discrace!
Should read: GONE IN A DAY: YEAR'S SUPPLY OF CHEAP 'SKILLED' VISAS
-PJ
Dear employer: Have you considered hiring some of us skilled but unemployed U.S. citizens? (Maybe I'm just jaded because I've been out of work for over three years.)
It didn't help to drive by the big construction project in town today (new library) and see all the Mexicans wearing hardhats. I still have a hardhat. Why won't they hire me?
The unemployment rate in our little county is the highest in North Carolina, which is one of the highest in the United States.
But there are no jobs for us Americans here.
H1-B visas are supposed to be for especially skilled foreign workers. How many mathematicians or nuclear physicists does Florida need to rebuild or reroof buildings after the hurricane?
I expect that one problem with the H1-B program is that many companies are using it to bring in lower level less skilled people instead of limiting it to the cream of the crop. Too many Bombay tech school graduates designing web pages and not enough nuclear physicists are coming in and the government isn't doing any evaluation or screening - just approving the first 65,000 applications.
Uh huh. Sure.
One small town in Maine is larded with hundreds of Africans who refuse to go to work until 10:00 AM and go home before 3:00 PM. Many are on welfare and the town's budget is exhausted.
One of this particular tribes beliefs cause tribal elders to remove the bottom teeth of young males when they get their second teeth. They do it with the blade of a spear. (Which has to hurt!) They do this because they think that the bottom teeth make them look like animals.
Now that they are ensconsed in this little Maine town, the boys think they look stupid running around with half of their teeth. So, it has become an orthodontist's dream. The federal goobermint picks up the tab in order that implants can be placed in the lower jaws of these "immigrants."
Enough immigration, already!
We have the best and the brightest here already. Its not about that. It's about the cheapest.
Why pay a 35yo (or older) U.S. engineer $55k (or more) a year when you can get his cheaper foreign equivalent. Also when the project is done, you can ship his, differently colored, arse back to wherever he/she came from.
I didn't think lewiston was small town.
Well, it's no Cleveland, Ohio.
Visas?!?! They don't need no stinkin' visas! Just tell them to go on down to Mexico and walk across with the REST of the world!!!
Raise the wages offered and you will find someone to fill the job. It's called economics.
Agreed. I worked with eritreans, very hard working people. I gather somalis are not so "dedicated"?
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Actually, South Florida attracts many of the wealthier immigrants in the nation. It aint native born Americans who are paying $500k-over one million for the houses in Coral Gables and Weston. When I lived in Miami (99-02), wealthy Colombians and Venezuealans were buying up property like crazy.
Oh yea, I forgot it's a secret...sorry
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.